Department of Energy

Barring settlement, a federal racial discrimination lawsuit brought by a security officer against the Department of Energy contractor running the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., would go to trial early next year. In an order last month, U.S. District Judge James Browning scheduled a trial starting Jan. 9, 2023 in litigation brought by […]

The prime contractor for the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina is inviting inquiries from “minority serving institutions” interested in helping carry out research for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Battelle Savannah River Alliance said in a March 11 notice on the federal procurement website (sam.gov) expressions of interest for such […]

The Secretary of Energy of Energy will announce her next chief of staff — and more — “soon,” Tarak Shah, the outgoing chief, told all hands Tuesday in a farewell message. Shah, who hit the campaign trail for Biden and lead beachhead teams into the Forrestal Building in Washington, will depart in April, he said […]

The Department of Energy received 10 shipments of defense-related transuranic waste at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico during February. A March 14 search of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) public website showed 10 shipments for the month taking place between Feb. 7 and Feb. 24. Five were received from the Idaho […]

Security guards and other plaintiffs suing President Joe Biden and the Department of Energy over COVID19 workforce vaccination requirements at the Hanford Site in Washington state have agreed to drop contractor executives from the litigation, according to a recent federal court filing. The plaintiffs will withdraw claims against Valerie McCain who heads Bechtel’s Waste Treatment […]

A public-private joint venture to use spent nuclear fuel to power micro reactors received a $4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy, the agency announced recently.  The venture consists of Oklo Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., Deep Isolation of Berkeley, Calif., and the national laboratories at Argonne […]

A new ventilation system to dramatically increase underground airflow at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M., is more than half finished and  should start operating during the summer of 2026, according to materials presented at last week’s Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix. The overall Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System (SSCVS) […]

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said it will hold a hearing to consider Kathryn Huff’s nomination as the head of the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy office: the post in charge of waste disposal strategy. The administration tapped Huff on Feb. 28 to become principal assistant secretary at DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy […]

The Department of Energy recently hedged a little about an agency official’s prediction that the first civil nuclear credits made available in November’s big infrastructure bill will be awarded by early summer. Although Andrew Griffith, DOE’s deputy assistant secretary for nuclear fuel cycle and supply chain, estimated during a Feb. 28 webinar that the agency […]

Talks on the future of the Savannah River Site in South Carolina are continuing between the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and the National Nuclear Security Administration, Nicole Nelson-Jean, a veteran of both DOE branches, told the Waste Management Symposia late last week in Phoenix. Nelson-Jean, currently associate principal deputy assistant secretary for […]

The number of weekly confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management continued to decline as the winter Omicron wave receded across the country, the nuclear cleanup office said. For the seven-day period ended March 10 there were 43 confirmed active cases of COVID-19, down by 22 from the 65 […]

A bipartisan omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature would increase the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy budget from 2021 levels but still come in shy of the agency’s request for the current fiscal year. If the compromise budget bill becomes law, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) would receive around 1.65 billion for […]

Happy Friday, nuke-watchers. Your RadWaste Monitor reporter was on the red-eye back from Phoenix after the first in-person Waste Management Symposia in two years. Here are some other stories from across the civilian nuclear space that we were tracking this week. DOE to award $36M for advanced nuclear waste research The Department of Energy will […]

PHOENIX — The Department of Energy planned to give some cash to communities interested in hosting a federal interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel but the agency’s spent fuel czar declined to provide details during a panel discussion here this week. DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy is “in the development phases” of a funding […]

Over the next 10 years, the Department of Energy’s $7.6-billion Office of Environmental Management hopes to realize several of its long-desired objectives around the nuclear weapons cleanup complex. According to its Strategic Vision 2022-2032, published Tuesday by the Environmental Management (EM) branch, the feds expect to start converting low-level radioactive tank waste into glass at […]

PHOENIX— The Department of Energy’s $7.6 billion Office of Environmental Management is now responsible for only 15 cleanup sites, with the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York coming off the board. Meanwhile, DOE Environmental Management planned to sign a new collaboration agreement with the United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority later today (Monday) at the 2022 […]

PHOENIX  — The president of the legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico expects her team will soon close out work on  radioactive contamination found two years ago outside the fence along a public road. Also, this year, the Hunting Ingalls-led joint venture will dig up some […]

Todd Shrader, second in command at the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management since 2019, is leaving the cleanup office for a clean energy job at the agency, according to an internal email sent Monday. Longtime DOE hand Candice Robertson will step in for Shrader on an acting basis, William (Ike) White, senior advisor […]

PHOENIX – The 2,100-plus attendees at Waste Management Symposia were asked upon registration to place a color-coded dot on their name badges to show their level of COVID-era comfort about personal space and handshakes. Then, when the conference began, attendees were asked to observe a moment of silence for Ukrainians being shelled by Russia’s army. […]

PHOENIX —The Department of Energy was eyeing an “easy fix” for the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit in Idaho, knocked offline Feb. 26 during the final demo run preceding treatment of nearly 1 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste, an agency official said here Tuesday. The long-delayed Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was processing a simulant, […]

PHOENIX — The final solicitations could be out in May for multi-billion-dollar contracts at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and the Paducah Site in Kentucky, an agency procurement manager said here Tuesday. Aaron Deckard, procurement director for DOE’s Cincinnati-based Environmental Management Consolidated Business Center, offered the assessment at the agency’s spring quarterly […]

PHOENIX — Demolition of the X-326 Process Building could be completed this July at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and around the time, depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion operations might resume at the former gaseous diffusion plant, speakers told the attendees of Waste Management Symposia here Wednesday. Remediation contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth aims to […]

The final fiscal 2022 compromise budget reached by Congress this week continues the era of flush funding for the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup branch, which rises to nearly $7.9 billion for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, up from $7.6 billion. Under the spending plan, which on Friday had cleared Congress and awaited President […]

Idaho-based North Wind Portage has received the green light from the Department of Energy to commence transition to its new Moab Remedial Action Contract, potentially worth $614 million over 10 years for cleanup of uranium mill tailings in Utah. “The transition task order may last up to 60 days,” a DOE spokesperson said by email […]

PHOENIX — After finishing major demolition and remediation last fall of the Y-12 National Security Complex’s Biology center or “mouse house,” the Department of Energy cleanup contractor is “very close” to turning the property back to Y-12 prime Consolidated Nuclear Services, a speaker told the Waste Management Symposia session Wednesday. “It is imminent,” Tommy Morgan, […]

An amended record of decision published this week by the Department of Energy officially withdrew an earlier designation of Waste Control Specialists as a storage site for elemental mercury. The long-telegraphed move was part of a legal settlement DOE reached in 2020 with gold mining concerns, themselves domestic generators of elemental mercury, who sued DOE […]

PHOENIX — After grappling with the airborne COVID-19 virus for a couple of years, the Department of Energy and other feds are studying another health concern, one centered around a large number of human-made chemicals with a history dating back to Manhattan Project uranium separation, a DOE official said here Thursday. The issue is release […]

A bipartisan omnibus spending package awaiting President Joe Biden’s signature would increase the Department of Energy’s nuclear energy budget from 2021 levels but still come in shy of the agency’s request for the current fiscal year. If the compromise budget bill becomes law, DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) would receive around 1.65 billion for […]

PHOENIX  — The president of the legacy cleanup contractor for the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico expects her team will soon close out work on  radioactive contamination found two years ago outside the fence along a public road. Also, this year, the Hunting Ingalls-led joint venture will dig up some […]

PHOENIX — Demolition of the X-326 Process Building could be completed this July at the Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site in Ohio and around the time, depleted uranium hexafluoride conversion operations might resume at the former gaseous diffusion plant, speakers told the attendees of Waste Management Symposia here Wednesday. Remediation contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth aims to […]